The Packers defense simply has to play better than it did last week against the Vikings, when it allowed 37 points, if Green Bay wants to win the wild-card round rematch and advance in the playoffs.
Charles Woodson is 36 years old, has spent 15 years in the NFL and missed the Green Bay Packers' last nine games with a broken collarbone. He's also an eight-time Pro Bowler, the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year and quite possibly the key to the Packers beating the Minnesota Vikings.
The news for the Packers' banged-up defensive line got worse Wednesday when rookie DE Jerel Worthy's season ended with a knee injury suffered against the Vikings.
The Packers offense was great on Sunday, but the defense was horrendous, and that put the Vikings into the playoffs and denied Green Bay a first-round bye.
The Packers have already locked up a playoff berth, but that doesn't mean they won't be motivated against the Vikings on Sunday. They can improve their seed, and then there's this: not being on the wrong end of an Adrian Peterson record.
Packers DL B.J. Raji was named a 2012 Pro Bowl alternate, despite subjectively having a better season than the one that got him selected as a starter last year.
For the past couple of weeks, coach Mike McCarthy has insisted that veteran DB Charles Woodson, who's missed two months with a broken collarbone, would play as soon as he's ready. The Packers were not going to intentionally rest Woodson to give him extra time to fully heal for the playoffs, McCarthy said.
When Randall Cobb was injured returning a punt in last week's 55-7 win over the Titans, his immediate fear was that it might be career-ending. But even with a leg that was "hurting pretty bad," he jogged off the field under his own power because his mom was in the stands and moms tend to fret.
